Zoonotic Diseases
COVID-19’s hidden costs How the pandemic is disrupting radiation medicine and medical imaging By Puja Daya
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The use of radiation medicine techniques, such as radiology, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy, are important in the diagnosis, treatment and management of patients with various health conditions, as well as in saving cancer patients’ lives. However, as seen with COVID-19, a pandemic can interrupt their use in medical facilities around the world. (Photo: J. Cerci/Quanta Diagnosis and Therapy, Curitiba, Brazil)
12 | IAEA Bulletin, September 2021
he world has seen many epidemics, from various flus to Typhus, but none have been as disruptive on a global scale in modern times as the COVID-19 pandemic. It has altered our daily lives, from lockdowns to quarantines and continuous testing. Millions have died, and many have recovered with long-lasting symptoms. The pandemic’s indirect health effects have also been severe — limiting access to diagnostic tools and treatment facilities as a result of lockdowns and the diversion of health care resources to fight COVID-19. Experts at the IAEA have provided support to many countries in order to minimize the effects of COVID-19 on the diagnosis and management of non-communicable diseases and access to radiation medicine.
Assessing the effects of the pandemic on access to radiation medicine
“The IAEA has a unique role, as an international technical agency with convening power. It could react quickly and has the
ability to determine how the routine processes and procedures that provide diagnosis and treatment of patients have been affected,” said May Abdel-Wahab, Director of the IAEA’s Division of Human Health. “In addition, it can provide guidance on how the medical community can resume routine procedures by recommending good practices and protocols to support practitioners. Crucially, the recommendations and guidance prepared during the pandemic, based on consensus among various professional organizations, will have lasting benefits beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.” Medical imaging includes various processes and techniques to create images of the human body in order to accurately diagnose and treat diseases. Some of these technologies include X-rays, computed tomography and ultrasound imaging, which have been used extensively to better understand how COVID-19 affects the inside of the human body. However, surveys conducted by the IAEA following the onset of the pandemic showed
